Why MeToo Is About More Than Sexual Harassment

12:10
February 6, 2019

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NEW YORK – February 6, 2019

Despite that over the past seven years more than 60 students at Yale University have filed complaints of sexual harassment, only five accused have been expelled from the institution, according to Business Insider.

As it turns out, the problem of sexual harassment and violence is not only at Yale University, but almost all over the United States.

Statistics of harassment on campuses show that this problem must be fought immediately. For example, one in five girls is the victim of attempted or actual rape at an educational institution. In addition, at least one in sixteen men is subjected to sexual harassment. Among graduate students, about 38% of women and almost one in four men were harassed by teachers or other staff.

Business Insider adds that about 40% of female teachers face sexual harassment.

In addition, freedom of information (FoI) requests sent to 120 universities found that students made at least 169 such allegations against academic and non-academic staff from 2011-12 to 2016-17. At least another 127 allegations about staff were made by colleagues.

Colleges and universities have tried to confront this problem, but there is still a lot of work to do. Because of sexual harassment, the best teachers, staff and students leave school without protection.

As experts point out, there are certain reasons why the situation with harassment has reached this level.

Many colleges and universities don't intend to spread sexual harassment proceedings, fearing to spoil the reputation of the institution. In addition, in some cases, the process takes place in a hidden order.

One such example is the 2018 case of Brianne Randall-Gay. She was 17 when she was sexually harassed by Dr. Larry Nassar at the University. However, the university's investigation showed that the doctor's actions were justified "from a medical point of view." After that, the police closed the case.

It was later revealed that at least 265 women and girls were victims of sexual harassment by Nassar. He was sentenced to 40 to 125 years in prison for molesting women and girls with his hands. He had already been sentenced to 175 years and 60 years imprisonment in two prior cases.

In addition, Michigan police apologized to the victim of the violence.

Here are some more examples:

Pedophile teacher Tad Cummins, 52, kidnapped a 15-year-old student and was on the run for weeks as he drove her in his wife’s stolen car across the country.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison Wednesday for taking Elizabeth Thomas from rural Tennessee to a remote cabin in California in 2017.

The parents of a teenage girl who said she was allegedly raped by her former gym teacher have filed a lawsuit against the Miami-Dade School Board. Attorneys for the girl’s family held a news conference in front of the school board building in Miami.

The lawsuit filed on behalf of the teen accuses school leaders of not protecting the Brownsville Middle School student from physical education teacher Wendell Nibbs. The teacher was arrested on November 30, 2017, and charged with two counts of sexual battery on a child 12 years of age or older but less than 18.

Karla Jean Winterfeld, 34, pleaded guilty in October 2018 to a felony count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, admitting that she had engaged in multiple sexual acts with the victim over the course of several weeks in May. The victim was a minor.

A married substitute teacher in Michigan Allyson Brittany Moran, 27, was sentenced to 25 months to 15 years in prison for third-degree criminal sexual conduct, but not before a prosecutor and judge blasted her for blaming the victim by claiming he initiated the sexual assaults, the Lansing State Journal reported. The victim was a 15-year-old boy.

Married middle school science teacher, Stephanie Peterson, 26, was arrested for a “sexual relationship” with a 15-years-old boy who she sent nude photographs to and who bought drugs for her.

The latter story is quite senstational in general. The boy apparently didn't mind bringing her drugs in exchange for sex.

Recall that puberty begins in boys around 14 of 15, and considering that today’s youth are among the most depraved, it’s not hard to understand that boys this age want to experience something other than their mother’s protective wing.

"Career price is in sex": Strong US women complain of harassment

More than 200 women who have served or are serving in the diplomatic, military, intelligence and other structures of the U. S. National Security have addressed an open letter to the authorities. They reported widespread sexual harassment by male colleagues and demanded it be put to an end.

"Not only in Hollywood"

"This is not just a problem in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, newsrooms or Congress. It is everywhere. These abuses are born of imbalances of power and environments that permit such practices while silencing and shaming their survivors. Indeed, in our field, women comprise a small fraction of the senior leadership roles -- 30% or fewer in most federal agencies," reads an open letter posted on SCRIBD, which positions itself as an "open platform."

It was signed by 223 former and current diplomats, military, intelligence officers, law enforcement agencies and other government agencies, including many ambassadors and officers in the rank of colonel. They call themselves the "women of the national security community" of the United States and address the leaders of that community.

According to the authors, today the fairer sex makes up about a third in most American Federal Agencies. In foreign embassies of the United States about half, in the armed forces -- about 15%. In general, this is a "historical high."

However, “many women are held back or driven from this field by men who use their power to assault at one end of the spectrum and perpetuate-sometimes unconsciously-environments that silence, demean, belittle or neglect women at the other. Assault is the progression of the same behaviors that permit us to be denigrated, interrupted, shut out, and shut up,” the open letter said.

"We, the undersigned, call on the national security community, including the Department of Defense, the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Homeland Security, the intelligence community, armed forces, National Security Council, think tanks, universities, and contractors who support them to take a comprehensive set of actions to reduce the incidence of sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace," the letter reads.

They referred to the creation of a "zero tolerance" policy for sexual harassment in the workplace, the establishment of clear channels through which women could report harassment cases without fear of harassment, external independent mechanisms for collecting anonymous complaints, and mandatory interviews for all female staff leaving the service.

"I didn't want to sign this letter, but when I read it, it stirred up in my memory episodes, which I tried to forget and forgot. And I signed up," Rose Brooks, a Professor of law at Georgetown University, a former adviser to the Pentagon head, and then a senior adviser to the State Department said, sharing a revelation.

#MeToo means 'me too'

The beginning of this struggle was laid by the liberal activist and actress Alyssa Milano. In October, she tweeted: "If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write 'me too' as a reply to this tweet."

In just 24 hours, the hashtag had been retweeted over a million times. Among those who joined the campaign were Lady Gaga, Monica Lewinsky, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and many other celebrities.

The impetus for Milano’s initiative was the scandal that erupted around Harvey Weinstein, one of the most influential producers in Hollywood, whose films have repeatedly received prestigious awards from the American Film Academy.

Dozens of women started accusing him of sexual harassment. He was expelled from the American and British Film Academies, the Guild of Producers, as well as from the company he founded that bears his name. In addition, Weinstein had to leave the U.S. Directors Guild.

Then, eight people from the crew of the popular series House of Cards testified against the lead actor Kevin Spacey. After that, the shooting of the series was suspended.

The wave of such “madness” swept immediately across the USA.

The story continues to this day and men have recently created their MeToo counterpart to show the world that they are also victims of violence by women.

Nick Nutter, an All-American heavyweight wrestler at Ohio State, said that he saw a former gymnast from Michigan on TV talking about harassment from the team doctor, and he remembered a story from his own past. When he was a student, his team doctor Richard Strauss (who committed suicide in 2005) "called him to his house for emergency treatment of a poison ivy rash, carefully laid down and smoothed out a white linen sheet on his bed, then repeatedly groped his genitals when he was supposed to be treating the rash."

"Michigan State is what got us to say, 'Hey, it can happen even to guys,'" Nutter said.

The publication, citing an independent study, writes that Dr. Richard Strauss repeatedly sexually harassed men. His victims were more than a hundred people in the late 1970s to 1990s.

The school stood in line with Michigan State University, where the doctor harassed gymnasts, Pennsylvania State University, where former football coach Jerry Sandusky raped young boys, and the University of Southern California, where the school gynecologist was accused of sexual harassing students.

This is not about the full history of the MeToo movement or cases of violence or harassment, but only about the fact that the modern US has become a fan of this trend.

MeToo has become fashionable regardless of real cases of robbery and rape. Running PR on victims is cool for some, and others can barely live with it.

In addition, the movement teaches people to hate men or women once again, as the case may be.

On the other hand, many so-called victims of violence fraudulently try to gain fame and attention, going to any length to destroy another person. An example of this is the movie The Life of David Gale.

Do you remember how a student accused Gale of rape, and the man ended up in prison for that and for murder? The 2002 film very subtly shows contemporary life in a society willing to lie and to neglect those nearby.

The police often do not understand, taking a priori the side of the victim, and this occurs around the world. Therefore, it is possible that the percentage of people convicted is too high.

As long as MeToo, feminism, and lies destroy society, and capitalism is the main culprit, people will not be able to continue a decent existence.